Microsoft will lay off 10,000 workers, about five per cent of its total workforce, its CEO Satya Nadella announced on Wednesday, terming it a hard choice that the tech giant had to make to remain a "consequential company" amid global economic uncertainties. Microsoft is the latest company after Facebook and Amazon to cut jobs as the bloodbath continues in the technology sector in 2023. Describing the current times as "significant change", Indian-origin Nadella said customers who accelerated their digital spend during the Covid-19 pandemic, are now optimising their digital spend to do more with less.
'Even where we are now today, the growth rates are very good, but we need to get to 8-9 per cent growth in the years to come.'
The partnership will also see the two parties cooperate on technology initiatives, including development of affordable smartphones.
The decline of over 5 per cent in PB Fintech's shares (the parent company of PolicyBazaar) in the past two days presents an opportunity for long-term investors to consider buying the stock, suggest analysts. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has remained flat during the same period with a negligible gain of 40 points, or 0.06 per cent. Analysts believe that the recent selling is "overdone", as the company behind the online insurance portal remains committed to achieving profitability, and the potential threat from the government's online insurance portal, Bima Sugam, might be embellished.
The indictment says the alleged co-conspirators "knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favour of Trump".
The longer it takes for RBI and the government to stabilise monetary conditions in the economy, the more severe and long lasting will be the damage caused to various sectors of the economy, especially to the informal sector, says Rajeswari Sengupta. Rajeswari Sengupta discusses the impact of this move on money supply, output and prices, in the short- and medium-term.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the rupee is holding up relatively well when compared to the currencies of emerging market peers and advanced economies. Days after the domestic currency breached the 80-level against the dollar, Das said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has zero tolerance for volatile and bumpy movement in the rupee and added that the central bank actions have helped in smoother movement. He said RBI has been supplying US dollars to the market to ensure adequate supply of liquidity and also clarified that the central bank does not target a particular level for the currency.
This kind of growth will turn India into a $8 trillion economy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the 6th India Mobile Congress at Pragati Maidan in Delhi and launched 5G services. The 5G telecom services seek to provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency and highly reliable communications system. The three major telecom operators of the country demonstrated one use case each in front of the prime minister to show the potential of 5G technology in India.
India's flagship payment platform, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), ended the 2022 calendar year on a high note as the volume of transactions touched a record 7.82 billion in December, amounting to Rs 12.82 trillion, again a record high. Data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella body for retail digital payments in the country, showed volume of transactions in December was up 7.12 per cent compared to November, while value of transactions was up 7.73 per cent during the same period.
A digital economy can only work with uninterrupted electricity supply. So, states now face the unpleasant task of telling their citizens that electricity rates need to be hiked. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee reports.
'When the gold price rises rapidly, India's physical gold market remains on standby.'
India has the potential to achieve 9 per cent growth rate and become a $10 trillion economy by 2034 on the back of concerted efforts by the corporate sector and a constructive role played by the government, a PwC report said on Monday.
The only real solution to the jobs crisis, whether in India or abroad, is to direct tech innovation towards job enhancing sectors, and disincentivising job-replacing ones, observes R Jagannathan.
A new book claims that women in call centres are happy with their work and how it has changed their lives.
All the talk about exploitation of call centre workers in India notwithstanding, a new book says that women workers in New Delhi seem to be relatively satisfied and enjoy their work, which has given them more freedom and autonomy.
Whether this current rate of growth is likely to continue in the medium-term remains to be seen.
Rapid strides in digital payments notwithstanding, the Indian economy will likely remain cash-dependent for many years to come, at least that's what the automated teller machine makers and cash logistics companies are betting on. After growing at over 20 per cent for most of 2020, currency in circulation growth fell to 8.5 per cent as of October 29 this year, shows data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reason for the steep rise in currency last year was the uncertainties related to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, where people preferred to hoard cash to meet exigencies.
Gold has pushed lower as a result of Chinese selling.
IT major TCS said 2014-15 will be better than the ongoing fiscal on account of uptick in client spending in the US and Europe and growth in demand for technologies like cloud, mobility and Big Data.
A total of Rs 396 crore has been mopped up, as on August 20 against Rs 407 crore collected in the same period last year. This was despite the expansion of the levy to online e-commerce players from this financial year.
Corporate India is indicating cautious hiring in the March quarter of 2023 as concerns rise over possible recession and steady inflation, a survey said on Thursday. According to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, based on interviews with nearly 3,030 public and private employers, hiring intentions will decrease in the quarter both on year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis. During the quarter, 48 per cent employers expect to increase their staffing levels, 16 per cent anticipate a decrease in hiring intent and 34 per cent do not anticipate any change in hiring, resulting in a net employment outlook of 32 per cent.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the United States Congress, delivered on Thursday.
Businesses of various scales can improve productivity and affordability of their products and services by building tech intensity, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said. Nadella noted that organisations globally are undergoing digital transformation amid the COVID pandemic, and that trends like hybrid work, hyperconnected business and multi-cloud environments require "a boundaryless digital ecosystem where trust between different parties needs to be established in real-time". "Digital technology is a powerful deflationary force in an inflationary economy. Businesses - small and large - can improve their productivity as well as the affordability of their products and services by building tech intensity," he said.
Modi, however, admitted that both countries face numerous economic challenges in the current global environment which directly affect trade and commerce
Two-wheeler exports from India fell by 17.8 per cent to 3.65 million units in 2022-23 (FY23), according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Thursday. This decline is due to a rise in global inflation and the weakening of economies and currencies in key export markets of Africa, Latin America (LatAm), and South Asia. In contrast to FY23, two-wheeler exports from India jumped 35.4 per cent to 4.44 million units in 2021-22 (FY22).
Inflation to peak in the current quarter within tolerance band, moderating in the second half of next fiscal, says central bank.
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday slashed India's economic growth projection for 2022 to 7.7 per cent, saying that rising interest rates, uneven monsoon, and slowing global growth will dampen economic momentum on a sequential basis.
The funding marks the first investment in the Indian food delivery category by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from the company's long-term investor, Prosus, and other existing investors Accel Partners and Wellington Management, Swiggy said in a statement. In addition, new investors Qatar Investment Authority, Falcon Edge Capital, Amansa Capital, Goldman Sachs, Think Investments and Carmignac participated in the round, it stated. This latest fundraise was heavily oversubscribed following strong interest from investors, and comes on the back of Swiggy's rapid recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and subsequent growth in 2020-21, Swiggy said.
Speaking to PTI, Vaishnaw said that the telecom reforms package cleared by the Cabinet is adequate for the survival of existing players, and will ensure robust competition in the sector. With more reforms, and more structural changes, that are in the pipeline, "more players should come", he added.
The 68-year-old influential Arab leader will grace the Republic Day celebrations on January 26. Sisi is accompanied by a high-level delegation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga met in Washington, DC, on Thursday to discuss ways to further cement the bilateral strategic ties ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Employers will also have the option to pay wages in cash.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Indonesian city of Bali from November 14 to 16 to attend the G-20 summit, the ministry of external affairs announced on Thursday.
Climate and sustainable development financing, multilateral institution reforms, regulation of digital assets, the spillover effect on developing economies from actions of western central banks, energy and food security in the backdrop of war in Europe, and sanctions on Russia and their impact on the global economy are some of the agenda items that India will take up as President of G-20, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. India will take over as President of the powerful international grouping on December 1 for a year. There will be around 200 meetings throughout the country, with the summit Heads of State meeting expected to be held in New Delhi next September.
Industrial production (IIP) grew to a three-year high of 6.4 per cent in August, up from 4.1 per cent in July.
Modi government plans to set up a committee of five or six chief ministers to suggest ways to promote digitisation.
Let start-ups be start-ups until they become grown-ups, let young entrepreneurs be experimental and bold, let VCs do their job, but for God's sake, the nation must prime the real grown-ups to solve the imminent issues., says R Gopalakrishnan.
After a brief lull during the pandemic, there is a strong revival in luxury car sales, bolstered by more launches across price bands, replacement demand, ban on old diesel vehicles in the NCR, and 'revenge buying'.
Indian economic growth moderated to 7.9 per cent in the first quarter of current fiscal, against 9.2 per a year ago as rising borrowing costs impacted manufacturing and some other sectors.
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